The Ontario Securities Commission’s (OSC) crime unit is picking up momentum and helping to put more fraudsters in jail, says Tom Atkinson, director of enforcement, who spoke at the OSC Dialogue 2013 in Toronto on Tuesday.
The crime unit — publically announced in June 2013 — is the result of a partnership formed between the police and the OSC to help bring more charges against people who defraud investors and who do not feel threatened by the regulator’s enforcement processes, including fines.
“These are boiler rooms … ponzi schemes, generally these scams involve a criminal element,” said Atkinson. “They are unregistered, they are not participants nor do they wish to be — they’re criminals.”
Within the past two years the unit has helped to put about 15 people in jail, said Atkinson, something that the OSC could not do before the partnership. “We’re getting results,” he said. “I expect that to accelerate once this team really takes off.”
The investigations tend to focus on smaller frauds that affect average investors and use the expertise of both organizations, such as the forensic accounting ability of the OSC and the wiretap and undercover capabilities of the police.
Overall, the partnership has made the OSC enforcement division stronger, says Atkinson. “One of the results,” he says, “we’re making the OSC as effective, active and visible as possible by taking more cases to the criminal courts of justice.”